Put Omi and one grumpy Eva together and what do you get?

"There is no way out?" Omi trembled.

"None," I replied.

"You're sure?"

"Yes."

"Abosolutely sure?"

"Yes! " I yelled, losing it. With a quick movement of my hand, a mass of shadows detached from the wall and wrapped around his mouth, gagging him.

"You forget your place, brat," I spat, rubbing my temples.

There was a soft, velvety whisper at my ear.

"There's something up ahead," the shadows murmured.

"Living?"

"We cannot tell. But," they added. "It is not one of us. It belongs to no side."

Ignoring the monks, I strode ahead. It was highly unlikely that whoever it was would know how to escape, but even more likely that it was a threat. And I would prefer a threat I could see, not an unknown one.

"What the heck is that?" Clay gasped.

Rows upon rows of shelves sprung up noiselessly, smoothly, each one filled with glass flasks. The flasks contained a silvery substance that emitted a faint glow. I picked one up and examined it, unable to identify it.

"Don't drop it," I glared at Omi. He quickly put the flask he was holding back on the shelf, sheepish.

Then there was a ripple of movement, so fast I almost missed it. This was the unknown threat the shadows had warned me of then.

I released the gag over Omi.

"Keep quiet," I snapped before he had the chance to open his mouth. "There is something invisible here, and I don't like it. Take it down."

"But if we cannot see it, how do we strike?" the little moron asked.

"For the love of – " I composed myself, concentrating on breathing heavily and closed my eyes.

There! Just a flicker of movement, the enemy heading towards us –

Hands, squeezed into tight fists reached forward. I held a breath and felt them contact with something solid. It crashed into the shelves from the force of the punch, and almost immediately, sprang up again.

"Close your eyes," I ordered. "They're useless. Let your instincts see for you. Feel the attack on your skin, feel it in the air."

I stood very still, calming myself. I could sense the injured shadow move; I felt it as a stirring in the air. Its blood had been spilled, it was dripping on the ground, I could almost taste it –

Movement. "The left!" I yelled as I sensed it lunge towards us.

"Seismic kick, Earth!"

"Tsunami strike, Water!"

Concentrating, the shadows flowed smoothly from our surroundings, towards the invisible presence, binding it, suspending it in the air. It thrashed, unable to free itself.

Close up, I could see that it was actually transparent. It's outline was very vaguely humanoid, bigger and somehow just… inhuman.

"What do we do with it?" Clay asked, scratching his head. Hunger seemed to have slowed his brain. But there was a possiblity that he was dense all the time.

"Kill it of course." I pulled back a hand, fingers pressed tightly together to form a dagger of flesh.

It's blood was a silvery substance, like mercury. It sprayed around when my hand penetrated its body.

"You cannot do this!" Omi protested.

I shrugged and pulled my hand out of the creatures's body. "It seems I just did."

I studied its body more carefully and plunged my hand into its body once again, in the area in which I guessed would contain its heart.

My guess was right. I wrenched the still-beating organ out of the creature's chest and threw it on to the floor. The creature stopped writhing and grew limp.

"Threat resolved." The dark binds released their grips over it and the corpse was flung on the floor.

I turned to face Clay and Omi. Yes, it was fear on their faces. My lips curved, ever so slightly. I had forgotten what it was like to be feared.

"Why do you do these things, Eva?" whispered Omi.

For some reason, I felt the blood drain from my face. Why? I had answered Kimiko before, but somehow, that answer was incomplete.

"Would you rather that thing sneak around, waiting for the right moment to attack us?" I asked, sacarstic as ever.

" 'Cos not," Clay replied. "But what you did to Master Monk Guan, Dojo, Master Fung…" His voice broke off, and I realised that he was shaking uncontrollably.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "It's not necessary for me to explain my actions to you." My cool, offhand tone hid the sudden turmoil of emotions I was experiencing. My conscience was, for the first time, working. I actually felt guilty, an emotion I always brushed off easily.

Damnit. It was Raven's body fault, the previous inhabitant of this body, I knew it was. She had had too many morals, and now her memories were affecting i my /i decisions.

"There is some good in every one," Omi said quietly. "Even in Chase Young. Even in you."

"What makes you think you know so much about me?" I growled."What are you attempting to do? Turn me against Chase?" I laughed, my voice echoing over in the emptiness. "That will never happen."

That shut them up. I continued walking. There had to be a portal or something out of here. There had to. A thin spot. Something.

"You really do love him," Omi said.

That stopped me. "What's it to you?"

He ran forward and stopped next to me. "Then you are doing all this for him. Not because you are evil." He was beaming.

I gave him a flat, emotionless stare. "You can still say that after you saw me disembowel Guan?"

Yet another silence. His lips trembled at the memory, and I pushed past him, hoping to move out of this seemingly never-ending rows of shelves.

"Just get me somewhere with another living person," I muttered. "I don't care who."

And that was when the shelves shifted away with a fast grinding noise.They disappeared, leaving behind nothing but shadows. It was like watching a speeded-up version of the sun moving across the sky.

Then i we /i moved, only, we weren't moving. No, it was as if the ground was moving us away, to another place.

We stopped in front of a looming, dark castle. The aged wood of the castle door was warped where it had not been held in place by iron bands. It was impressive, if a bit over the top.

Clay whistled. "This place might just be bigger than Texas. 'Cos, probably not."

I rolled my eyes and pushed one of the doors in.

The interior décor was a huge contrast from the old-fashioned gates. It was like a furturistic zoo, or musuem, but with only one exhibit.

"Who's here?" I whispered to the shadows.

"Someone you know," was all they would answer.

Again, I rolled my eyes. Why did they have to be so cryptic? I mean, a simple name would suffice, right?

"Eva." Omi tugged my sleeve. "I do not think we should be here."

I pulled the sleeve out of his grasp. "One," I said. "Do not touch me again, or you shall end up like your precious masters, no matter how unhappy Chase may feel about your poor body hacked and chopped into unrecognisable pieces."

He backed away fast.

"Two, this mayb be a trap, but we're never going to get out of here if we don't take risks. So shut up and do not tell me what to do."

I strode closer to the glass case and stopped dead when I saw who was in it.

"No." I barely realised the gasp was from me.

" Chase Young???" Omi and Clay yelped simultaneously.

I haven't watched this episode in a long long time, so forgive me if I improvise. Fans of Xiaolin Showdown might guess what's happening next.